Revolution at WhatsApp: This innovation is coming

The founders of WhatsApp ‘s messenger app had always opposed advertising in the messenger app. After they have left the Facebook group, should now come but advertising . After all, the chats remain ad-free.

Mountain View (dpa) – WhatsApp will be advertising in its app from next year . WhatsApp CEO (COO) Matt Idema announced this in a conversation with the German Press Agency .

The ads should not appear in the private WhatsApp chats, but in the “status” area are switched. WhatsApp responded to Snapchat’s success with the format : ” WhatsApp Status” lets you share text, photos, videos, and animated GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. The feature is currently used by around 450 million people.

WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton have repeatedly argued against funding the service through advertising . But they have left the Facebook group that owns WhatsApp . The WhatsApp users should be able to set themselves whether they want to see advertising or not.

The planned advertising revenue should help bring WhatsApp out of the loss. At the same time, Idema announced that it would generate revenue through cooperation with larger companies. In the future, WhatsApp will enable larger companies to communicate directly with customers via the short message service on a large scale.

Among the first companies to use the new WhatsApp Business API service are the airlines KLM and Singapore Airlines , the online travel portal Booking.com , the Wish shopping platform and the carrier Uber. For example, online retailers can use the interface to inform customers in real time about the parcel delivery process.

In order to get in touch with the companies, the users would have to agree to the communication, emphasized Idema . This would also implement the requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation. As usual, the communication is encrypted and secure, WhatsApp does not get to see the contents.

“However, users should be aware that they do not chat with a private person, but provide information to a company.” WhatsApp users could always block companies they contact with prior consent with a single click. “This choice is of course respected.”

In January, WhatsApp had already started a business service for smaller companies in the form of its own Android app. The new service for larger companies runs in the traditional WhatsApp application. For companies, setting up the interface and chatting with customers is free. However, notifications in real time (“notifications”) have to be paid by the companies in numbers. At the exact cost, the company made no statement.

” WhatsApp Business API” is the first paid service of the Facebook subsidiary since the actual app has been available for free for years. The users themselves are not asked to pay.